The One-Minute Haggadah and Other Mysteries


Technology is weird, and strange, and it allows us to do things that people would probably not have imagined a few years back. Like this, that just appeared in my Facebook stream — a Rube Goldberg machine to tell the Passover story, which is an essential part of the Jewish Passover seder through the series of prayers known as the Haggadah.

Or this, DIY Haggadah generator, an online interactive tool to help you create and share your very own custom haggadah.

DIY Haggadah Tool - Haggadot
https://www.haggadot.com/

People have done some really interesting and creative things with making their own Haggadahs. I’d like to share some of them with you, but first a bit of context. While I am not Jewish, I have sometimes had the privilege of being invited to the Passover seder celebration, which is beautiful and meaningful. I confess to being surprised by some of the range of Haggadah I’ve stumbled across, and the fluidity with which some have taken the story and personalized it in ways that range from profound to hysterically funny. I suspect some of these examples are probably not actually something a Rabbi would approve, but I’m pretty solidly a Gentile, so I will leave that to the experts. For this list, I just collected a few examples showing some of the creative and diverse ways in which people have explored this beautiful tradition in ways that may or may not make it more timely or relevant in their own context. For myself, I’m inspired by the creativity of how people are telling the essence of the same story in so many very different ways. Some of these links simply to point to a discussion about an example, while others provide the full text. I will note these latter in italics.

Absolut Haggadah

Adam and Steve Haggadah (LGBT themed)

The Baseball Haggadah [Book]

The #BlackLivesMatter Haggadah

Bruce Springsteen’s rock’n’roll Passover Haggadah

Bubie’s Haggadah (for children)

Different from all other nights: A Queer Passover Haggadah, from the NYU Bronfman Center

Dr. Suess-style Haggadah [sic]

The Freedom Seder T(inspired by Martin Luther King)

Exodus: Movement of Jah People (includes parody tunes such as “Take me out to the Seder” sung to the tune of “Take me out to the ballgame”)

Freedom Seder for the Earth (Haggadah for the Earth, PDF)

Haggadah for the Liberated Lamb (vegetarian)

Hamilton Haggadah (about, download, audio)

The Harry Potter (unofficial) Hogwarts Haggadah [Book] (about 1, about 2)

Immigrant Roots, Immigrant Rights; Labor Seder (about the Labor seder)

JQ International GLBT Haggadah

The Kahoot Seder (done with interactive classroom clicker technology)

Ma Nishtana: A GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER, QUESTIONING, ALLY HAGGADAH

The Medium is the Matzo (urban themed)

Monty Python Haggaddah

The Neverending Haggadah (a crowdsourced haggadah collection)

Peace is Sexy Haggadah

Poet’s Haggadah [book] (about)

Pride Freedom Seder Haggadah (LGBT-themed)

Refugee Stories (HIAS Haggadah Supplement, PDF)

So Called Seder: A Hip Hop Haggadah [CD]

The Stonewall Seder (LGBT-themed)

The Two-Minute Haggadah: A Passover service for the impatient.

Velveteen Rabbi’s Haggadah for Pesach with a cover and slideshow version (an open source haggadah by a poet, also a woman rabbi)

Worthy is JAH Lamb, a Rastafari Passover Haggadah (pdf)

Zombie Haggadah [Book] (about)

2 responses to “The One-Minute Haggadah and Other Mysteries

  1. Reblogged this on Using IT and commented:
    A timely offering from our good friend and scholar, Patricia Anderson.

    Like

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